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Topic: My Grand Isle report (Read 447 times)

My fishing partner and I rolled up to the house in Grand Isle just as Joe & his buddy were packing up to leave. Sounds like both parties had excellent trips.

Here's a bit of our report and some of the photos:Spent 2 days sight-casting the south Louisiana marsh for bull reds on the fly w/ Capt. Scott Null. Scott normally fishes West Bay down to POC but rented a house in Grand Isle for January & February and was booking trips over there after catching reds there up to 40# last winter. None of the fish caught hit that mark but all 8 of the reds I caught in 2 days would have been personal bests for me on the fly.

I landed 8 reds with the smallest being 29" and 9# and the largest 39" and 24#. 5 of my reds went over 20#. I also caught a 5# black drum and a nice sized sheepshead (my first on the fly). My fishing partner caught 5 reds with his largest going 42" & 25# and his smallest going about 14#. He also caught about a 15# drum and a 7-8# sheepshead.

All the fish were sight-cast in skinny water and caught on a fly developed by Andy Packmore at FTU called "redfish crack."

Here's my 39"- and even cooler (at least to me) was catching it on a vintage Fin-Nor reel and vintage fiberglass Fenwick rod:

We were able to find some pretty clear water, especially when the sun cooperated. It clouded over really thick late Sunday and then right in the middle of the day on Monday. Monday started off clear early then clouded up and then got sunny again around 2PM, we were working these mud points and it was crazy, we couldn't see a thing and then the sun would peek out and bam, fish everywhere. That sheepie was hanging out with a bunch of reds I cast to and he rushed the fly before the reds could get to it.

As for my casting, I really focused on slowing myself down. Plus, I find I cast better when I don't have time to think about it. With the glass rod you could time the back-cast with a calendar.